Ben Folds and Regina Spektor together

Today's NPR Song of the Day: Ben Folds: Cynicism Meets Sweetness

• Song: "You Don't Know Me"
• Artist: Ben Folds (featuring Regina Spektor)
• CD: Way to Normal
• Genre: Pop-Rock

It's a good track. It's funny. It's witty. It's catchy. Oh, and its got some bitter realism mixed in there. Speaking of mixing, it's interesting combining Spektor and Folds. You can stream the track at the NPR page. The music video is embedded below...

The explicit lyrics go something like... (where Spektor's lyrics are in parentheses)

I wanna ask you —
Do you ever sit and wonder,
It's so strange
That we could be together for
So long, and never know, never care
What goes on in the other one's head?

Things I've felt but I've never said
You said things that I never said
So I'll say something that I should have said long ago:

(You don't know me)
You don't know me at all
(You don't know me)
You don't know me at all (at all)

You could have just propped me up on the table like a mannequin
Or a cardboard stand-up and paint me (paint me)
Any face that you wanted me
To be seen.
We're
Damned by the existential moment where
We saw the couple in the coma and
It was we were the cliché,
But we carried on anyway.

So, sure, I could just close my eyes.
Yeah, sure, trace and memorize,
But can you go back once you know

(You don't know me)
You don't know me at all
(You don't know me)
You don't know me at all (at all)

(You don't know me)
You don't know me at all
(You don't know me)
You don't know me

If I'm the person that you think I am (Ah ah ahh)
Clueless chump you seem to think I am (Ah ah ahhh)
So easily led astray,
An errant dog who occasionally escapes and needs a shorter leash, then
Why the fuck would you want me back?!

Maybe it's because

(You don't know me at all)

Ahhh ah
Ahhh ah

(You don't know me,
you don't know me.)

Ahhh ah
Ahhh ah

So, what I'm trying to say is
What (What?)
I'm trying to tell you
It's not gonna come out like I wanna say it cause I know you'll only change it.
(Say it.)

(You don't know me)
You don't know me at all
(You don't know me)
You don't know me at all (at all)

(You don't know me)
You don't know me at all
(You don't know me)
You don't know me at all (at all)

What?

(Mmmm, ohh oh
Ah ah ah ah ah
Aha ah ah ah
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Aha ah
Ah ah
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Oh-oh-oh-oh oh ohh)

What?

"Hands in Pockets" with Cellos

Great version of an already pretty song: NPR Song of the Day: "Hands in Pockets" by Portland Cello Project with Laura Gibson (streamable via RealPlayer)

Wryness in song: The Girls Don't Care

"Eef Barzelay: A Blueprint for Finding Love" by Stephen Thompson

• Song: "The Girls Don't Care"
• Artist: Eef Barzelay
• CD: Lose Big
• Genre: Pop-Rock

As leader of the now-defunct Clem Snide, Eef Barzelay took flak from critics for weaving smart-alecky wordplay and pop-culture references into his keenly observational songs. But then, with the release of 2003's Soft Spot — a concept album about the unconditional love and sacrifice inherent in marriage and parenthood — he took yet more flak for singing straightforwardly sincere love songs.

Truth be told, Barzelay's work has always mixed wryness with unmistakable warmth, and he's never gotten enough credit for both the subtlety of the former and the sincerity of the latter. Ever since Soft Spot, and starting with the title track to 2005's End of Love, he's taken to occasionally needling those for whom expressions of love run counter to a painstakingly maintained ironic distance. "You're so sophisticated / Your mind's been liberated / You're the first to notice when a movement's come and gone," he sang in "End of Love," concluding, "No one will survive the end of love."

Since then, Barzelay has released a solo acoustic record (2006's Bitter Honey), recorded Clem Snide's swan song (the still-unreleased Hungry Bird), and made Lose Big, a smart and compact collection of rock 'n' roll conversation-starters. "The Girls Don't Care" in particular functions as an ideal sequel to "End of Love," as Barzelay gently advises against hipper-than-thou posturing: "The girls don't care that you ache to be free," he sings. "The girls just want a sweet melody."

Barzelay has never been afraid to turn a pop song into a mission statement: For proof, check out Clem Snide's masterful "I Love the Unknown," which Barzelay helpfully tacks on as a bonus track to Lose Big. In "The Girls Don't Care," he lays out a bona fide blueprint for how to find love: "Don't listen to Frank Zappa / play Coltrane, Faust, or Can / Just take that twisted heart of yours and lay it in her hand."

It's a pretty song too. Have a listen at the SotD link. Song lyrics are easy to find too.

(Am I Just) Fooling Myself

NPR Song of the Day (April 11, 2008): "Eli 'Paperboy' Reed Channels Soul's Giants" by Marc Silver

Just who does Eli "Paperboy" Reed think he is? The reincarnation of the wicked Wilson Pickett? A skillful James Brown imitator? Winner of the Austin Chronicle's award for "best Otis Redding impersonation by a 23-year-old Jewish boy from Massachusetts"?

• Song: "(Am I Just) Fooling Myself"
• Artist: Eli "Paperboy" Reed
• CD: Roll with You
• Genre: Soul

Hear the track at the story page.

Get Your Head Around my Blue Morning

Recent NPR Song of the Day tracks for you:

• "Get Your Head Around It" by Headlights
• "Blue Morning" by Kate Maki

You can stream them from NPR's site (which is linked from each song). I've sent Pandora an e-mail suggesting that they add the songs to their database. On that note, I always get a personal response from one of the people at Pandora whenever I send them a song suggestion. I think that's pretty cool.

So c'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon / Check it out!

NPR SOTD: The Ideal Soundtrack to an Early Spring by Stephen Thompson

Fortunately, though it runs only two and a half minutes, "Sun Is Out" functions as a charming, modestly shambling mini-epic, complete with discrete movements that culminate in a full-on power-pop blowout. It's not exactly intellectually taxing — "The sun is out / The sun is out / So c'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon / Check it out!" — and it never entirely coheres: It's basically three likable interludes strung together. Nevertheless, the effect remains infectious and beguiling throughout. After all, "Sun Is Out" functions as the ideal soundtrack to an early spring, so what's not to love?